According to legal experts and judges, the new law on the Supreme Court violates the constitution. In TVN24's "Fakty po Faktach", the Commissioner for Human Rights, Adam Bodnar talked about the negotiations between the European Commission and the Polish government regarding all the previous laws adopted by the Sejm.
"I remember the comments that I made to the media and generally in different discussions in January and February of this year, when the government released its white paper, negotiated with the European Commission and explained what the changes to the judiciary were for. I said that it is not about good will in these negotiations, but just to get to July 3, 2018. Please notice, that the government has completed its plan," said Adam Bodnar.
"Throughout these negotiations which have been dragged out, discussions with the European Commission, again you can say that the bridgehead of the independent courts has been conquered, especially, the National Council of the Judiciary," added the Commissioner for Human Rights who was a guest of "Fakty po Faktach" in TVN24.
The Polish parliament adopted rules on Friday to expedite the naming of a new Supreme Court chief under a judicial overhaul by the ruling party that critics say undercuts democracy.
Twenty-two Supreme Court judges were forced into early retirement this month, but chief Judge Malgorzata Gersdorf has refused to go saying her constitutional term expires in 2020. She has become a symbol of resistance to the judicial revamp.
Since the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party won election in 2015, dozens of judges have been sacked at the Constitutional Tribunal, the National Judiciary Council, which decides judicial appointments, and now the Supreme Court.
New appointments have been made using procedures that give the parliament - where the PiS holds a majority - more say over the courts and the government more control over judges.
The European Union as well as human rights groups and Polish opposition parties say the government is infringing on the key democratic principle of impartial courts in Poland, the largest former communist state now in the EU.
Poland risks losing billions of euros in EU aid for subverting the rule of law. But Warsaw has only offered cosmetic concessions and says the overhaul is needed to improve efficiency and rid the courts of residual communist influence.
In hasty proceedings on Friday, the lower chamber of parliament approved amendments enabling a swift appointment of a new Supreme Court head. The upper chamber is expected to endorse the new rules as soon as next week and President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, to sign them into law soon afterwards.
PiS enjoys broad support largely due to generous social spending amid an economic boom.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24